When a builder like Colonnade Communities makes a master-planned neighborhood, there’s a reason why. At Pioneer Hills, a luxury enclave holding a one-week sale on a 1,494-foot townhome,the reason why lies just east in Piney Creek, a popular single family area that was a Parade of Homes in the 1980s and spawned upscale neighborhoods for decades afterward.

Silvio DeBartolomeis and Cheryl Harpt in the kitchen of Pioneer Hills 3-bedroom show home. That model sold…around the corner from a 1,494-foot home on sale for $239,900.

When you have nice single-family homes, sooner or later you have kids who grow up and leave…empty nesters who want out of shoveling snow…people changing, needing newer spaces. Most of those people still want to stay in the same neighborhood, with its trails and Cherry Creek Schools; and Colonnade reaches to them with a neighborhood that has a secluded feel, big pool and cabana, parks and trails. more »

Ever since ‘new urbanism’ arrived in the 1990s, Denver builders have tried creating new-urban communities–places where most daily needs are walkable. Many of those projects somehow never generate the actual cafes and grocery shopping that buyers want to have close at hand…but today you can tour one that’s everything advertised: shops, coffee, fitness, a pub or two, groceries, all within 2 blocks.

Distinctive Properties’ Cate Dobson shows off a lavishly furnished two-bedroom-plus-study plan at Luce, re-priced for a reopening behind Lowry Town Center.

Luce…pronounced ‘loo-chay’…is right behind Lowry Town Center, so close that you can actually walk into Albertson’s flagship store within three minutes of leaving your door. This is a project that was set to open a year ago but that’s been totally re-priced now, with some homes 25% lower than they were then. more »

By Mark Samuelson

Why is Denver being ranked as a national market (perhaps THE market) most likely to lead a real estate recovery? In part for the excitement buyers and developers are finding in the city’s core urban neighborhoods…highlighted by Cherry Creek, where new upscale stores, exclusive restaurants, are emerging right now, this year.

Developers David Steel (left) and Roy Kline show off the Paris-inspired courtyard of NorthCreek, where residents have their cars valet-parked.

“Everybody’s trying to mimic Cherry Creek,” says Roy Kline of Western Development Group, overseeing the metamorphosis of an entire block of Cherry Creek North into NorthCreek, a medley of residential offerings that have already lured a complement of stores to the street level….including Hermes (famous Paris accessory house that opened in April); Eileen Fisher; Loro Piana, Marmi…all of them either a flagship, or making a singular appearance. more »